The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 07, 1992, Image 1

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The Battalion
Vol. 92 No. 6 (14 pages)
“Serving Texas ASM Since 1893”
Monday, September 7, 1992
Slip Slides’ Away
KARL STOLLEIS/The Battalion
Greg Hill during the opening drive of the A&M vs. LSD game in “Death Valley” Saturday afternoon.
Neo-Nazis riot in Germany,
politicians look for solutions
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERLIN — While police used riot gear to fight
one of the worst weekends of rightist violence yet,
Germany's leaders searched their own arsenal Sun
day for weapons to halt the wave of hate.
In more than 20 cities, neo-Nazi youths tossed
firebombs at refugee homes, smashed windows,
burned cars and fought street battles with increas
ingly larger, more aggressive contingents of riot po
lice. At least 42 people were arrested.
In the city of Schwedt, police late Saturday turned
back 80 neo-Nazis bent on storming a small apart
ment housing a frightened family that had fled what
was left of Yugoslavia.
Though only minor injuries were reported, the
scope and intensity of the attacks showed that the
belligerent neo-Nazi movement had not slowed
down after two weeks of violence that began in the
Baltic port city of Rostock.
Politicians are alarmed not only by the mayhem
but by the ghastly image it was giving a nation try
ing to overcome its Nazi past. They took to the air
waves, newspaper columns and streets to offer ideas
for stopping the violence.
Officials are considering toughening laws to crack
down on the violence. Berlin police made a pre-emp
tive strike late Saturday night by uncharacteristically
swooping down on about 600 people near a refugee
home, dispersing the crowd and making 11 arrests
on weapons charges.
One political suggestion: stem the flow of
refugees to former East Germany, the economically
depressed ideologically underdeveloped former na
tion where most of the recent attacks have taken
place.
That idea has been proposed before, most recently
on Sunday by Hans-Joachim Jentsch, the justice min
ister in east Germany's Thuringia state.
“It would be in the interest of peace in the new
federal states," he said.
Even Wolfgang Thierse, the top east German in
the opposition Social Democrats, which champions
refugee rights, said reducing east Germany's intake
of refugees was worth thinking about.
Germany has been struggling with rightist vio
lence for the past two years, when refugees began
flooding the nation after the East bloc collapsed in
1989. So far this year, 274,000 foreigners have ap
plied for asylum, already eclipsing last year's record.
Most refugees hope to go to west Germany, which
many believe is safer than the relatively chaotic,
working-class east. But the federal government last
year began apportioning asylum-seekers to each
German state.
See Germany/Page 14
Departments cancel classes
for math teacher's funeral
By SUSAN OWEN
Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor of
THE BATTALION
Afternoon classes in the de
partments of Mathematics and
Modem Languages will be can
celed today to allow faculty,
staff and students to attend the
funeral of Dr. Ilya Bakelmann,
the Texas A&M math professor
who died in an automobile acci
dent on Aug. 30.
All modern language classes
after noon and math classes that
meet between 12:40 and 3 p.m.
are canceled. Math classes after
3 p.m. will meet as usual.
Bakelmann's wife Irene, a lec
turer in the modern languages
department, was injured in the
accident and is recuperating at
home from a concussion and in
ternal bruises.
Dr. and Mrs. Bakelmann were
returning to College Station after
visiting their son Alex, a junior
at the University of Texas, when
the accident occurred.
Bakelmann, 63, was a profes
sor of mathematics in A&M's
math department since 1982. He
held degrees in mathematics and
physics from the University of
Leningrad and the Leningrad
Pedagogical Institute.
He was born in St. Petersburg
(formerly Leningrad), in the for
mer Soviet Union, and came to
the United States in 1979.
Mathematics Department
Head Dr. William Rundell de
scribed Bakelmann as a "distin
guished mathematician" who
specialized in studying the
geometry of global differential
equations.
Bakelmann's funeral will be
held at 1 p.m. at the Hillier Fu
neral Home, 502 W. 26th St.,
Bryan.
Austin killer nears
end of prison term
'Good time' policies allow for early release of rapist
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HUNTSVILLE — One of Texas' most notorious
killers, James C. Cross, who was accused of killing
two University of Texas students 27 years ago, will
walk out of prison Sept. 30.
Cross was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the
July 1965 rape-slaying of Susan Rigsby. He also led
police to the raped and strangled body of Rigsby's
friend and his former girlfriend, Shirley Stark.
He was never tried for that murder.
The state's “good time" policies have reduced
Cross' time behind bars by more than 50 years, al
lowing him to join a small group of Texas inmates
who actually serve their sentences before being dis
charged from prison.
“It's none of our business," said Raven Kazen,
spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice's parole division. "In a sense he has paid his
debt, he's done his time, whether we like it or not."
Cross, who will be 50 next week, was denied pa
role 14 times since 1975. Ironically, if he had been
granted parole, “we would have had the authority to
help him get settled," Kazen told the Houston
Chronicle.
“But the parole board is in a damned-if-you-do,
damned-if-you-don't situation in a case like this,
where there's not a life sentence and, at some point,
the prisoner is going to get out."
Cross was a 22-year-old University of Texas stu
dent when, on a hot Sunday afternoon in July 1965,
he lived out what psychiatrists held was a recurring
fantasy: raping and killing women.
Stark and Rigsby were headed for school in
Austin when they stopped to shower and change
clothes at Cross' apartment.
Rigsby showered first. A few minutes later, while
Stark showered. Cross confronted her friend in the
bedroom where he raped and strangled her. Then he
turned on Stark.
Minutes after the killings. Cross picked up his
current girlfriend, took her on a date and then back
to his apartment where they had sex a few feet from
where the bodies of his victims lay heaped in a bed
room closet.
Two days later, he consoled the two women's an-
uished families, assuring them that no harm possi-
ly could have befallen the pair. And, still later, he
offered to help police find the women, giving them
false clues.
Two weeks later, his conscience gnawing at him.
Cross went to authorities, confessed to both slayings
and led police to their bodies.
During the second trial for Rigsby's death, police
admitted they would never have had a case against
Cross had he not come forward.
Jurors found Cross guilty of Rigsby's capital mur
der in 1966, but rejected pleas from Travis County
Assistant District Attorney Phil Nelson to sentence
him to death. Instead, he was sentenced to life.
He won a second trial after a U.S. Supreme Court
ruling about determining whether a defendant is
competent to stand trial became state law and
retroactive.
Nelson retried Cross in 1986 and this time Travis
County jurors convicted him of murder with malice
and sentenced him to 80 years.
Texas A&M professors
study Hurricane Andrew
Much of Florida's damage could have been prevented
By TODD STONE
Reporter of THE BATTALION
Much of the damage to South
Florida caused by Hurricane An
drew could have been prevented
despite the area having some of
the most stringent construction
codes in the country, a Texas
A&M architecture professor said.
Dr. Dale Perry, leader of the
Wind Engineering Research
Council post-disaster team, said
damage and loss of life from Hur
ricane Andrew would have been
greater if Andrew had struck
New Orleans or other gulf coast
cities. Perry is president of
WERC.
"It (Andrew) could have been
more severe because they (gulf
coast cities) don't have the build
ing codes of South Florida," Perry
said. "We're looking at an area
where we had better preventative
policy than anywhere in this
country, and we still had all this
damage. ’
According
to the WERC
report, the
damage to
South Florida
was consistent
with past
storms such as
hurricanes
Hugo and Ali
cia.
Perry said
building codes
do not ade
quately treat
roof coverings,
and roof fail
ures accounted
for much of the damage caused
by Andrew.
"Industry needs to develop
some new roofing materials. We
need stronger codes," Perry said.
"Most (South Florida buildings)
are well-engineered structures,
but once you have roofing dam
age then you have problems."
Further, roofs for essential fa
cilities — hospitals, fire stations,
schools, evacuation shelters and
airports — performed poorly as
well.
The purpose of the (WERC)
study was to examine wind con
ditions from an engineering per
spective on various buildings and
consider what construction prac
tices could prevent future losses
from intense wind storms.
Evidence did not support me
dia reports that wind gusts
reached 200 miles per hour. An
drew's wind speeds were be
tween 110 and 125 miles per
hour, according to the WERC re
port.
Current codes established by
the engineering profession for
South Florida recommend struc
tures should withstand winds up
to 120 mph.
Texas A&M civil engineering
professor Dr. W. Lynn Beason,
who also participated in the
study, said many assumed their
homes survived wind speeds ex
ceeding 125 mph.
"Some buildings withstood the
storm," Beason said, "but they
didn't withstand 200 mph winds
like many believe."
Although storm-protection in
dustries can protect against cer
tain elements of severe weather,
some people may falsely believe
their homes are safe, Beason said.
"Certain special interest
groups will try to bolster sales,"
he said. "They could address one
element of the problem, but you
have to address everything.
"Until someone addresses the
whole construction problem from
the ground
up. I'm
afraid we're
wasting our
time."
Perry
said many
will mistak
enly rebuild
structures to
the same
standards
that failed
before.
There needs
to be a na
tional agen
da for regu
lations call-
"It (Andrew) could have
been more severe because
they (gulf coast cities) don't
have the building codes of
South Florida. We're looking
at an area where we had
better preventative policy
than anywhere in this
country, and we still had all
this damage."
- Dr. Dale Perry, leader of the
Wind Engineering Research
Council post-disaster team
ing for the construction of safe
and affordable housing, he said.
"If someone's insurance policy
will only support one way to re
build, then historically, they will
be built to the same faulty stan
dards as before," he said.
According to the report, power
outages extended well beyond
the area of major damage. Perry
said some residents may be left
without power for one to two
months.
"During every hurricane, we
lose power," he said. "Almost all
of Miami lost power after An
drew. Those people are trying to
get their lives together, and they
have no electricity. We have an
obligation to help them.
"You need power for gasoline
and clean water."
Perry said utility companies
used the same insufficient stan
dards for power line design that
were used on buildings.
"Their philosophy is if one
(power line) goes down, no prob
lem," he said, "but after Andrew,
they all went down - and that's a
problem."
Beason said the lack of power
caused some helter skelter condi
tions.
"No traffic lights were work
ing," Beason said. "Imagine try
ing to drive across Houston with
out a traffic light. It was free for
all."
The WERC report will be re
ceived by its membership, all
building codes organizations,
congressional committees, gov
ernment agencies and the Nation
al Science Foundation.
Reason's trip was funded by
the Civil Engineering Depart
ment.
Inside
Aggies run by
LSU
Page 7
Campus/Page 2
State/Page 3
World & Nation/ Page 5
Opinion/Page 13
Cartoons/Page 14